Geology also influences the flora and fauna,
which in turn influences the farming economy and scenery

Tythe map of Beer
1841

Spaniards
in Beer

You may well
already know the following story, but perhaps not in the version
told by POH (Peter Orlando Hutchinson) in his diary:

Tuesday Oct 4th
1874. – Drove over to Beer to spend the day with C.
F. Williams, who is again there. [Oct. 8. 1872.] The weather
lately has been very unsettled, but I seized on today, as it was
fine and calm. Went up Salcombe Hill, passed Trow, Hangman’s
stone, and then turned down by Bovey House to Beer. Of late
years many new houses have been built, so that the ancient
quaintness of the place is
lessened.

I was told a tradition in Beer
today which is worth mentioning. I was told that traces of Spanish
blood and a Spanish type of countenance are to be observed among
the inhabitants of this secluded place; and the story runs as
follows. At the time that the plague was raging here in the year
1646, (see April 20 1870) the panic was so great that many of the
inhabitants fled to the neighbouring hills, and made tents of
sheets or blankets, or ran up sheds or huts of such materials as
they could collect together. Whilst they were thus encamped on the
open down upon Beer Head and other hills, a Spanish ship, being
overtaken by a storm, was wrecked on the coast, and the crew got on
shore at Beer. Going into the place, they found half the houses
empty, and dead lying in many of them. These they buried and then
ensconced themselves in the houses. When the danger was over, and
the inhabitants returned to their homes, the settled down with the
Spaniards, and intermarried with them, and the foreigners were well
content to remain where they were. The descendants of these people
are said still to linger here, and to show traces of their foreign
origin, by the type of their features, and the swarthiness of their
complexions. On another occasion, if I have the opportunity, I will
endeavour to find out whether there are any Spanish names to be met
among them. – Nov 4. 1875. Spent a pleasant day, and got home by
moonlight before nine.

Brief
Pre-history

New Stone Age, The Neolithic,
4,000 BC to 2,000 BC, the time of early Stonehenge. They were the
first farmers in Britain. There is plenty of evidence of
Neolithic Man's presence in Beer. Man-made flint tools, cores
and flakes are found all over and at Bovey Fir Cross, just north of
the caves, there is a Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age burial
mound.

Martin Tingle did an
archaeological dig in Bovey Lane in the 1990s and found evidence of
Neolithic Man eating mussels, winkles, limpets and oysters. Amongst
many other finds was a Neolithic bone button.

Beer is the last place going west
with plenty of flint bearing Cretaceous rock. For top quality tools
you need virgin mined flint still with its cortex. Beach pebbles
are not good enough. They have been exposed to frost and battered
by the sea. Probably most of Devon and Cornwall, in Neolithic
times, would have traded with the Beer area for high quality,
black, unpatinated flint for tool making. Beer flint has been found
as far west as Carn Brae in Cornwall.

Bronze Age, 2,000 BC ‘til 600 BC,
Beer was still an important source of flint. Not everyone in the
space age has been into space, and not everybody could afford
bronze. A Bronze Age palstaff has been found in Beer, now in Seaton
Museum.

The Iron Age, 600 BC ‘til the
Romans. The flint and turf banks on Beer Head are believed to date
from the Iron Age. In the surrounding area there are numerous Iron
Age hillforts, Blackbury and Musbury Castle, Hawkesdown Camp and
many others.

Roman times, 2,000 years ago.
They started Beer Quarry Caves for building stone. The Cretaceous
also yields sandstones for sand and chalk for lime providing them
with all the building materials they needed; plaster, mortar, stone
and nearby, the red Triassic mudstones of Seaton provided clay for
roof tiles. There is some clay with flints in Beer, on top
of the Cretaceous from the Tertiary above.

mjlg

Neolithic Arrowhead

found in

Beer

Beer
Lace

The controversy in East Devon
over lace is what to call it. Beer always insists it is Beer
Lace. Lace was made in the surrounding villages, but Beer’s
claim is based on the fact that Huguenot refugees settled in Beer,
when they introduce the skill of pillow lace to the area c1567 and
Beer is where the Lace Shoppe used to be. The major
point of local collection for trade and retail lace.
Honiton’s name has been attached to the lace, as it was the staging
post on the main road (A303) to London, where most of the lace was
ultimately sold. The truth is that pillow lace was made all
over East Devon, but it was still taught at Beer Primary School
right up until the 1970’s.

The following is based on an
interview I had with May Wakely years ago…

May was born in Restorick’s Court
in 1912. Her Aunt Caroline (Bartlett), who lived there, would
sit all day by the window making lace as her only means of
support. The house was of local flint with a slate roof where
Beach Court is now. They considered themselves lucky as they
shared an outside flush toilet with only four other houses and had
a standpipe for water not far from their front door. The
local ladies made lace to supplement the family income in times of
poverty. As an infant she could remember being asked on
several occasions to go up to Miss Newton’s (where the Mariners’
Hall is today) with a piece of lace to bring back some tea or
sugar. This would be wrapped up in a screw of newspaper and
gives some idea of how hard it was scraping together a living in
those days, but the best lace was taken to Miss Allen who owned the
Lace Shoppe. In the 1920’s she left Restorick’s
Court and lived in Gravel Cottages, which were thatched then.
She shared a bedroom with her brother and the roof was so low you
could only stand in the doorway.

She learnt lace at school as did
all the Beer girls then, and although too young at first, she kept
on to the teacher until eventually, just before the age of eight,
she was allowed to join the older girls in the Music Room (Berry
Hill) and learn to make Beer lace. Later in life May was
asked, by the County lace class inspector, if she would like to
take the class. She declined and suggested Mrs. G Restorick,
but was herself eventually persuaded to teach, which she continued
until her death.

She was commissioned by Princess
Margarita of Yugoslavia to make a lace picture for the Royal
Wedding of Charles and Diana. Seventeen of May’s pupils took
part in the production. It incorporated the Prince’s plume of
feathers, the date and a surrounding border. Delphin Franklin
and May went to Buckingham Palace to hand it in, they didn’t meet
anyone famous, but they did get a royal cup of tea. May and
her class also made a present of twenty-five tiny motifs for Prince
William’s Birth.

Later she made, with helpers
(Jessica Green was one of them) the lace motifs for the Beer Parish
Council Chairman’s chain of office.

Before May’s time, Beer had made
part of the flounce for Queen Victoria’s wedding dress in February
1840. Made in Beer with contributions from neighbouring
villages, the flounce was returned to Beer in July 1982 for a
special one-off display in St. Michael’s Church. Volunteers
(my wife Carol was one of them) spent the night in the Church to
guard it as a condition of the insurance company.

mjlg

Lace Lugger

by

Janet Bevis

New book by S. White

Jane & Ida

Beer lace manufacturers to Royalty

The Beer
Lugger

The Beer Lugger is not just any
old lugger with the word Beer stuck in front of it, but is a design
and rig type-specific to Beer. The archetype is documented in
the Science Museum as the Little Jim of Exeter. Exeter is the
port of registry. Owned by H. Bartlett it was built by Lavers
of Exmouth in 1916. However, even this long ago the angle of
the yard had started to steepen as is the modern trend. There
are other luggers on the South Coast and many of them may look
similar, but to the informed eye there are differences.
Further down Cornwall way for instance, they set a jib outside the
vor's'l (foresail) so the sail cannot be dipped when going
about. The Penzance Lugger is an example.

There are some lovely old
pictures in circulation of luggers years ago with three masts and
very square sails, but the ones you will see racing Regatta Day or
Monday nights will only have two masts with a much steeper angle on
the yard, the latter is a modification to make them sail better to
win'rd (windward). The Beer Lugger is a working boat
rig. In a two-master the foremast is set right vor'rd
(forward) and the mizzenmast is set right aft, often
outboard. This leaves the boat uncluttered for working.
In the three-master the main mast amidships would often be
unshipped when working so as to clear the decks. The vor's'l
and mains'l are called dipping lugsails and the mizzen a standing
lug. There is no boom on the vor's'l or the mains'l and when
under way the sail is completely outboard. Even when close
hauled the foot of the sail will never come inboard of the gun'l
(gunwale). This means that when going about there is nothing
to bang you on the head and the whole sail can be turned inside out
around the vor'rd side of the mast, so no part of the sail has to
cross the working area of the vessel. Those of you who have
sailed naval luggers will note the difference. The mizzen
sail is self-tacking. There are other advantages to the rig:
all the spars are short enough to fit in the boat when unshipped,
the short mast does not require a sophisticated system of stays or
spreaders to support it and with such a rig it is possible to set a
large powerful sail despite the low mast.

The Beer Lugger is, I believe, a
direct descendant of the Viking rig introduced to Southern Britain
by the Normans in 1066. The Bayeux Tapestry shows the rig in
detail. The sail is square and set on a yard, the mast is
short and is unshipped on reaching shore, there are no stays only a
few shrouds, and it appears they used the halyard as an extra
shroud to win'rd, this is a real old Beer trait forced upon poor
fishermen who could not afford enough rope.

As mentioned before, the rig has
changed over the years, the angle of the yard has steepened and the
luff has become shorter to aid speed when beating and to ease going
about (with a steep yard there is no need to slacken the halyard
when dipping the lug). In the old days they had a special
spar stuck in a cringle on the luff to help keep it tight and to
win'rd. This was called a vo'g'rd and is a local corruption
of fore-guard. The rules of Beer Lugger racing still
encourage many old skills; they are allowed no mechanical advantage
on the sheets, they must attach the sail to the yard with robands
(twine lacings tied with a reef knot), the shrouds must be of rope
and held taut using only a rolling hitch.

Beer is the only place I know,
where they race dipping lugsails, so keep a good look out Monday
evenings in the season and on Regatta Day for the Beer
Luggers. Particularly watch them when they go about (i.e.
change direction), that's when the "fun"
starts.

A Beer man is the only person you
are ever likely to meet that can tie a rolling hitch
"correctly". The real use of a rolling hitch is for when one
needs to tie a loop with only one end, under tension and at the
same time keeping the tension. In Beer it has one very old
and traditional application, that of keeping the rope shrouds tight
on a Beer Lugger and one more modern, but still of some decades of
use, that of tying the landing stage up so that it does not run
down the beach.

mjlg

Photo

by

Carol Green

Smuggling

Jack Rattenbury - The Rob Roy
of the West

Beer on the Jurassic Coast with its
magnificent white cliffs (the last in England going west) is
a classic example of where geology has impacted on the life,
culture and history of its inhabitants.

Beer Head, formed from Late Cretaceous
chalk is harder than the surrounding red Triassic cliffs of East
Devon. This resistance to erosion has left a headland
protecting Beer Roads from the prevailing So’ westerly
winds and seas, lending itself as a safe haven for boats.
This the bright white chalk headland also served as an outstanding
navigational aid.

Along with the spirit of the inhabitants its
geology contributed to Beer being a successful fishing port; one of
the most important on the south coast where the boats are beached
every night.

The success of the fishing industry meant Beer
was a ready source of highly skilled seamen; which drew them
towards privateering and smuggling in the late 1700s to early 1800s
and at times being pressed into taking the King’s
shilling.

John, known as Jack Rattenbury “The Rob Roy
of the West” was born into this community in 1778. He
was the son of a fishwife and a father who was shipped aboard a man
o’ war before his birth and never seen again.

Jack went to see at the age of 9 as an
apprentice fisherman and turned out to be an outstanding rogue of
high intelligence and industry. His life became the epitome
of the word swashbuckling.

On his first foray as a privateer (still as a
boy) he ended up in jail in France, but managed to escape to
America

On his many adventures he subsequently sailed to
Norway, Spain, France and the Channel Islands

He made many of his smuggling forays to Cherburg
(Cherbourg) most of which were highly successful, though some were
not and cost him dearly. Sometimes losing his boat or cargo
and occasionally his liberty.

His resourcefulness though always enabled him to
either get discharged for lack of evidence by the magistrates or to
escape.

More than once he was pressed into service in
his Majesty’s navy, but escaped.

On one occasion he was given a pardon from the
King after a petition from the MP for Lyme.

The heyday of these smuggling escapades was
during the Napoleonic wars when all manner of cargo was carried
besides the usual spirits; lace, tobacco and escapees and I suspect
spies.

In later life he was twice called as a witness
to Parliament to give evidence for an act of parliament for a canal
to Beer; the Act was passed, but the project was never taken
up.

Although at times a ruthless rogue he was
certainly also a humane man. As a pilot he saved many a ship
from foundering , often without hope of reward. This was obviously
recognised by Lord Rolle who eventually allowed him a pension of
one shilling per week for life. One presumes this was partly
out of generosity and humanity, coupled with a thank-you for
services rendered.

mjlg - sourced mainly from his
book Memoirs of a Smuggler

For those of you interested in
reading a novel about the notorious smggler extroidinaire, Jack
Rattenbury, known as "the Rob Roy of The West - use the black
button below

Rattenbury

Sedimental -
Rocks and Humans

Beer is an unconformity in the
Walk Through Time along the World Heritage Site, where the
greensands and chalks of the Cretaceous period come out to the sea
at Beer Head and sit next to the Triassic sandstones at Seaton
Hole. So what opportunities has this presented to people throughout
history?

Neolithic man came to Beer 6000
years ago. He knew that black flint can be shaped and sharpened to
make cutting tools and axes. He may have realised that flints are
often associated with chalk, and noticed that Beer Head has the
most westerly white cliffs. The cliffs themselves may have been a
good source of flint, although he will have discovered that flints
which have been rolled around on the beach are difficult to knap.
We know that Stone-Age man made tools from Beer flint and took, or
traded, it over a wide area indicating that the people in Beer were
in contact with other groups. Neolithic man also used chert for
scrapers, which have been found locally. New Stone Age (4000 -2000
BC) tools made in Beer have been found at Hembury, Haldon and as
far away as Carn Brea in Cornwall. In 1645 Beer flint was used in
flintlock guns for the New Model Army, and black flint is
apparently still used today for scalpels for eye
surgery.

The next recorded inhabitants of
Beer were the Romans who quarried stone, creating the first of the
underground caves for which Beer is famous. They realised that the
Beer freestone has such a fine grain that it can be carved as well
as being used as a building material. They found the other
ingredients for buildings locally – sand from greensand, chert,
chalk for lime wash and mortar, as well as gypsum from Weston. We
know that the Romans built a villa at Honey Ditches in Seaton, and
possibly one in Beer, and they also used Beerstone to make small
items like lamps. The Saxon church of St. George's in Exeter is
partly built with Beer stone that was recycled, having been used
originally in a Roman building.

We know that the Romans were around
Beer for at least three hundred years because coins for each of the
3 centuries have been found at the caves. What we don't know is
where they used all of the stone which they quarried. While they
sought Beer stone below ground the Romans also realised that the
south-west facing slopes of thin limestone soil were ideal for
grapes, and so they brought vines to grow. We assume they were
successful, because much later, around 1200, Beer provided wine for
Sherborne Abbey.

Beer Head stands out because the
late Cretaceous chalks have not eroded as much as the Triassic
sandstones to the east. It provides a natural shelter from the
prevailing winds, which means that fishermen can launch and recover
their boats at most states of the tide. We know that this is an
ancient occupation as in 1145 Beer fisheries and salt pits were
ceded to Sherborne Abbey. Beer still has a fishing fleet and
was, of course, also famous for smuggling.

Today, local stone in Beer is still
making history. Small pieces of greensand from the village have
recently returned after 18 months in space. Scientists have
ascertained that the microbes in the greensand have survived their
epic journey. So, when your great-grand children blast off on a
journey to Mars or Venus, where they will have to grow their own
food, you will know that Beer provided the evidence that organisms
can survive and grow in space.

Norah Jaggers, Ambassador for the
East Devon and Dorset World Heritage Site. Beer Village Heritage.